Suturing is a very time-consuming phase of most surgical operations. Heretofore it has been realized that suturing time can be reduced considerably by the use of stapling techniques. As a consequence, in recent years several types of stapling systems have come into use for surgical suturing.
By way of example, the following U.S. patents illustrate various types of staplers which have been used for suturing purposes: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,604,561, 3,646,801, 4,162,678, 4,316,468, 4,317,451 and 4,485,816, and the references cited therein.
However, prior surgical stapling systems suffer from a variety of disadvantages, including but not limited to: (1) excessive size for the intended application; (2) the need to bend the staples across the tissues, which induces severe traumatic effects; (3) the need to extract the stapler anvil from between the staple and the tissue surface after the staples have been implanted; and (4) the inability to maintain precise edge alignment and smoothness between opposing portions of tissue to be sutured, as required in ophthalmic and cosmetic surgery. As a consequence, prior medical staplers have typically been unsuitable for delicate ophthalmic surgical operations where only an absolute minimum of trauma may be induced during the surgical procedure.